brooklyn

Where I live there is what we call alternate sides parking to allow for the street cleaners to come by and clean the street in the mornings. That means you have to park on the correct side of the street each night or get up and move your car by 8am or get a ticket and one of those nasty "I'm an inconsiderate moron sticker plastered on your car window." Since it isn't possible for everyone to park on the correct side of the street it is common practice for people to double-park on the correct side of the street. The custom is to try to park in a way that the cars that are legally parked at the curb can slide out behind or in front of where the illegally double-parked car is. Key to that is the custom that everyone leaves a sheet of paper in the window of their car with a telephone number where they can be called and come move their car so you can actually get out.

I felt like ass yesterday morning. The kind where you get sick feeling everytime you stand up. But law school doesn't tolerate no-shows and I've already missed two days of classes for medical related stuff so I hauled myself up and out and there was my sweet little car double-parked in by a bigass truck. No number in the window. No way to back up onto the curb and drive down and around the sidewalk because there was a tree. The only public transportation route to school is a 2.5 hour trek that would have made me miss class anyway. So idolmaker left a nice note on the window reminding the driver that it is considerate to leave a number when you park illegally on the street. (seriously, it was a nice note, nothing cranky sounding)

Well, I went back out two hours later and the truck was still there. A cop was across the street writing a ticket for a car that hadn't moved. After explaining the situation...

Me: "excuse me, is there anyway you can look up their name and number or anything so I can call them to move or something"

Cop: "no, but I can have him towed"

Me: "okay, lets do it." (keep in mind I'm paying a lot of $$$ to go to law school and I really don't want to miss classes)

NYPD tow truck shows up and they run the tags so they have it in the system for the owner to come claim it. Turns out the truck is owned by an ex-cop. The NYPD tow truck refuses to tow it and leaves.

Leaving me stuck there w/o access to my car for the whole day. When idolmaker and I got home last night the truck was gone and the note we had left on his truck was tucked under the windshield wiper of my car. My first thought: I hope he said I'm Sorry. idolmaker's first thought: It's going to be a nasty note in return.

The person took the time to read the note and put the note under the windshield wiper arm of my car and wrote nothing. Nothing. Sometimes people stun me. I know that makes me sound silly, but how much effort does it take to leave your number in a window? Especially compared to the degree of inconvenience of the people you trap at the curb.

And I understand that a cop wants to protect one of their own, but he wouldn't even tow the truck the three feet necessary for me to get out. That was unacceptable. It is one thing to blink at an ex-cop car that has failed to put an extra quarter in the meter somewhere and another to blatantly ignore the fact that an ex-cop, more than anyone, should know enough to leave a number.

Then, last night, we went to dinner at my favorite Thai place in Manhattan called Spice on University Place just south of Union Square and we sit next to this middle-aged couple. They are obviously married and they just spoke to one another so harshly. But they didn't seem angry -- they just seemed like they always speak to one another that way. Then I heard the same thing walking down the street.

I'm constantly disappointed in how inconsiderate people are to one another. A little consideration and a little kindness go a long way in relationships whether it is between lovers, friends or siblings. It doesn't take much. Just a little thoughtfulness.

Anyway, I digress.